Ernst and Young will be playing against Sapura in the final on Saturday. It will be their sixth consecutive final and they do not want to suffer the agony of trooping out as the losers again.
Coach K. Dharmaraj said that they needed to be prepared for a tough match against Sapura and they could not afford to let slip chances to score as they did against Maybank in the two-leg semi-final tie.
Ernst and Young dominated both matches against Maybank but muffed a host of clear-cut chances. They drew blanks in regulation time of the second-leg match and scored a golden goal to put them through to the final 3-2 on aggregate.
“In our matches in the knockout stage, we had plenty of chances to score field goals and to convert penalty corners. But the scoring rate was poor and we were certainly lucky to beat Maybank in the semi-finals,” said Dharmaraj.
“Sapura will not be so charitable in the final. The slightest mistake can be very costly for us. We have played in six finals and each time we lost because we made one mistake or another. This is going to be a tough match and we need to be good all-round.”
Ernst and Young qualified for their first final in 2001 and were beaten by Bank Simpanan Nasional. They featured in every final from 2003 and were beaten thrice by Sapura (2003-05-06) and twice by Tenaga Nasional (2004-07).
Dharmaraj said that except for the injured Zulkifli Rejab, Ernst and Young had a squad at full strength for the final and his main worry was the mental strength of the players.
“All the players have played in a final before and were losers. They want to break the jinx and they have to handle the pressure well and fight hard. We are looking for a breakthrough win to help us cope better in future. And I believe the players can do it,” he said.
Dharmaraj is again looking at Baljit Singh and Mohamed Razie to be effective in their execution off penalty corners.
“Both players are young and they have done reasonably well in matches. I hope to see them perform just as well in the final. We will try to play our normal game. Sapura have enough experience to match us and it should be a close match,” he said.
Baljit is the team’s leading corer with 12 goals and he shares the top spot on the tournament top scorer’s list with Tenaga’s Mohamed Amin Rahim.
Ernst and Young also have the most potent strikeforce in the MHL with Chua Boon Huat, Ismail Abu, Tengku Ahmad Tajuddin, Azlan Misron and Nabil Fiqri getting on target.
But the team need to hit the right note together. Otherwise the overall title may remain a dream for yet another year.
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